Help us Save Pia – any amount, no matter how small, will help us save her life.

Update (8:00pm, Tue, April 19): After holding our collective breath and Pia's second surgery after developing peritonitis subsequent to her first surgery, your thoughts and prayers seem to be working -- along with Pia's amazing will to live! Assuming all continues to go well, then it looks like Pia will be discharged on Friday. YEAH! What a brave girl. (Thank you, Father Baker, for looking after our precious girl and guiding her on her journey back).

Now we just have to see what Pia's final veterinary costs will be. We have estimated those to be around $5800 total (but it could be more, given the ongoing transfusions and diagnostics). Last push to raise the remaining funds we need to cover Pia and her recovery.

We can't say how wonderful you all have been and how generous. Thank-you, and spread the word yet again! For those of you here in the Buffalo area, perhaps we can bring Pia out to meet the wonderful people who contributed to her live-saving treatment.  

Pia's story:

Dumped – there is no other way to describe it, they were dumped. Six 8 week puppies left in an overnight drop box at a shelter, flea infested with sores, hair loss, thin, cold and scared. Six puppies who were lucky in some ways, they ended up at a shelter that cared, cared that they were cold, cared that they were hungry, cared that they were sick and cared enough to know that a shelter was the last place they needed to be.

We didn’t really have room, but our foster homes, our supporters and our former adopters stepped up and opened up their homes to help these puppies that needed more than a concrete floor and a caring, but overworked shelter staff. So on April 3rd, five of the puppies came to Buffalo Humane and the road to a better life began. The skin condition that looked so bad with raw and bleeding sores was improving with meds, medicated baths, good nutritional food and a warm, dry home.

Unfortunately, for one of the pups – little Pia, things took a bad turn . . .

In Pia's words:

Hi, my name is Pia, and while I didn’t have the best start, I was getting much happier. I love to cuddle with my brother in the little bed my foster parents bought me. I just started to play with toys, and I get along with my foster fur siblings too. I am much smaller than my brother, but I didn’t know that, I still loved to romp and play. I used to fall over every once in a while, but my foster mommy said I needed better food and gave me extra special bits of yummy meat.

But then, I knew something wasn’t quite right. Unfortunately, I had no way of telling my foster mom and dad, and I was just so happy to be warm, dry and loved.

On Sunday, I didn't feel so good and had an “episode”. It made me scream, drool, and fall over. This scared my foster mommy and she took me to the emergency clinic Sunday night. I've been at the clinic since that night.

The nice doctors and staff stabilized me, and I had to go through all kinds of tests to see what was going on. The doctor found a large liver shunt that he called a portosystemic shunt and also something called situs inversus, I don’t know what that all means, but the doc said my organs are backwards, which means my right ones are on the left and my left ones on the right. I will be ok with that, it is just one of those weird things, but he did say that if I do not get surgery to repair my liver shunt, I will die.

I don’t want to die – I have a lot more livin’ to do, now that I am safe.

Buffalo Humane said “of course we won’t let you die” and gave the doctors permission to operate on me. My surgery requires specialized skills and equipment, which are located at my Emergency clinic. I am a little scared, but my little body needs this to survive. I have a long recovery period ahead of me, but the doc says I will be happy and healthy with a new family that loves me very soon.

XOXOXO ~Pia

Buffalo Humane is serious when we say we save one animal at a time. So long as the prospects are good that the animal can be helped and will live a good life, we don’t say no when expensive medical care is needed.

But we need YOUR HELP. Pia needs lifesaving surgery by a board-certified veterinary surgeon with experience performing this delicate surgery. As much as we need the skill of the surgeon, we need all of you to give what you can to help little Pia live to grow into the happy, wonderful dog that she will no doubt become.

Won’t you help our little Pia? She sends licks and kisses.

You can follow her journey on her own personal blog page here.  Pictures of her through her illness and recovery will be posted as much as we can.